Marvel vs Capcom Infinite Hands-On: Story Mode May Not Be So Bad After All

It’s come a long way since a less-than-ideal showing at E3.

By
Mitchell Saltzman

To say that Marvel vs Capcom Infinite’s story mode demo from E3 2017 was disappointing is a vast understatement. The demo was extremely rough visually, with characters like Chun-Li and Dante looking inferior to character models from last-gen games, and most importantly, the demo didn’t allow players a proper look at the Infinite’s new mechanics due to the fact that your opponents were as fragile as porcelain dolls.

The demo soured any expectations I had for the story mode and dampened my excitement for Infinite in general, which is why I went into my latest hands-on session with a fair bit of trepidation.

It seems like Capcom has taken some fan feedback to heart.

Fortunately, it seems like Capcom has taken some fan feedback to heart, and I walked away from my time with Infinite’s story mode feeling much better about the mode. Dante and Chun Li have each received a much needed face-lift, with Chun-Li in particular undergoing dramatic changes to her character model, and the actual battles themselves were a lot more fun against enemies that could withstand a few solid combos.

My hands-on time picked up where the E3 demo left off: our heroes narrowly escaping the clutches of Ultron Sigma with a captive Thanos in tow. One of my biggest concerns with the mode was how Infinite would justify pitting characters against each other given its hero-stacked roster. The E3 demo got around this by simply having heroes face off against weak Ultron Bots, which was alarming because no one wants to play a mode where they’re just beating up generic trash bots for the majority of the campaign.

It's an entry point for newcomers to the series.

Fortunately, my fears were alleviated when the group of heroes return to Avengers Tower and Cap and Iron Man almost immediately go at it over a disagreement on whether to enlist the help of Thanos to track down the remaining four Infinity Stones. Fights like this felt like contextualized arcade mode battles, which is exactly what I want in a fighting game story mode, and thankfully, these fights were far more prevalent than any other. You do still have to deal with fights against waves of Ultron Bots or other weak non-playable characters, but they’re now at least spaced out.

The real appeal of story mode, though, is to see similar characters from the Marvel and Capcom universes interact. You’ve got Ryu trying to teach Hulk how to control his inner rage, Spider-Man and Frank West trading jabs at each other about their journalism skills, and Chris Redfield facing off against M.O.D.O.K. as he infuses Resident Evil style B.O.W.S with the symbiote. Infinite’s story mode at the very least looks to provide some fun character moments between characters that would ordinarily never be seen together. And that’s really what it’s all about. Story mode will never be the selling point of Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, nor is it meant to be. It’s an entry point for newcomers to the series to become familiar with the roster and each of the characters a moment to shine.

Mitchell Saltzman is IGN's gameplay video editor. Challenge him to a match of your favorite fighting game at your peril on Twitter at @jurassicrabbit.